China
by therisingharvestmoon
Summary: Spock/Chapel fluff. Based on Sparkadia's song - before Naked Time and alluding to Amok.


**China**

_**She's as distant as the winter sun  
More consistent than the beat of a drum  
All this time she's been hiding her weakness away from me**_

On time, every time, Nurse Chapel would appear – eavesdropping on my conversing with Jim or Doctor McCoy, staring up at us with her big, blue eyes. She would always be there, wanting to help in some way. Not that the colour of her eyes mattered to me; they are aesthetically pleasing, clear and gem-like, though I find no emotional attachment to them. Why would I? The very fact that I could notice such a thing was a trait of my human ancestry. I was glad that I was the touch telepath and not Doctor McCoy, for he would know of my present predicament. Even such a worry is very human – I know that logically, such a thing is not possible. I have processed this all in 0.34 seconds.

"Something on your mind, Spock?" He asks, handing me another biopsy sample. And there it was. The strange, human stirring known as 'intuition' making an appearance, right on time, just like Christine Chapel.

"You mean other than these results, Doctor McCoy?"

I could see him roll his eyes in my periphery before leaning down to stare into the microscope. I also saw a flicker of soft, blue cloth before putting my face to the eyepiece. If I believed in such a thing as tension, it would have entered the room along with the nurse. I focus my eyes on the plate of dead organisms in front of me. I knew in 2.1 seconds that this test had also failed, but my keen ears wanted to pick up the changes in Chapel's voice. I wanted to find the cause of her strange behaviour toward me. I hope my unfortunate, inbuilt sense of 'intuition' in this case was incorrect.

"The latest readings of McCormick, Doctor," she reported in a strong, feminine tone. Nothing out of the usual. I kept looking at the plate, the microbes lifeless. "Oh – Mr Spock." And there it was. "H-how is it coming along, sir?"

I didn't miss the fact that she asked me, rather than Doctor McCoy. The nervous and slightly sultrier tone in her voice was also painfully apparent. I lifted my head to look at them both evenly.

"Nothing as of yet."

"I see… Well I'd better get back to him then, the poor thing. He isn't looking to good if you ask me… Well, goodbye."

My gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than Doctor McCoy. My suspicions were raised once again by her specific address to me. There was no logical reason why Nurse Chapel needed to bid either of us goodbye when she was simply attending to her patients in the next room, and it was an almost earnestness in her tone. As though she wanted my approval of these menial tasks…

McCoy suddenly chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

"Oh Spock, I know what's going through your head."

I raised an eyebrow and turned. He was grinning at me. "Oh?"

"I'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to notice what's going on there."

I briefly considered – for 0.288 seconds – what answer I should give. I decided after this time that honestly would be the most reasonable option. "Yes, I believe Nurse Chapel does as well. She blushed when I addressed you both."

He nodded, no longer smiling in a mocking way. I was willing to admit that I liked this side of the Doctor. To myself, not him. "Yeah, well… She's been alone for a long time. Sensitive girl like that all the way out in space… Must have been a hell-of-a reason she left. I mean, I know she was engaged but… It's been five years!"

"Her behaviour indicates that she has found other opportunities in regard to her personal isolation on this voyage, Doctor McCoy. I feel free to discuss this matter with you, seeing as you have worked with her for some time." I sighed, a rare occurrence. "I do admit, I am inexperienced in such matters… Some advice would not go astray."

I stared at him evenly, expecting him to laugh. I was relieved when he did not.

"I understand, Spock… It's tough, but so is she. Just because she turns to jelly every time she sees you, doesn't mean she doesn't regard her professionalism just as highly. Believe it or not, us humans can deal with our emotions and work at the same time."

"That is also the Vulcan way," I conceded to his jibe with a tilt of my head. "Though I am not accustomed to controlling others' behaviour, particularly when that behaviour is so closely linked to my actions." I folded my hands across my chest, still listening to the other room. I could hear her breathing, leaning over McCormick and sponging his sweaty forehead. "Do you understand my meaning?"

"I do, Spock." He chuckled again, though with more ill-humour. "Welcome to the world of human courtship. Someone's got to get hurt."

"Then it will be Nurse Chapel. Is there no way of avoiding it?"

McCoy raised both his eyebrows. "So you're saying that these advances are unwanted? And why isn't it going to be you? Just because you can _control _your emotions doesn't mean that you don't have them, Spock."

"It would not be appropriate, given the martial status of the parties involved, as well as the work-related nature."

McCoy frowned. "I asked two questions and made a statement, Spock!"

"I know that."

"Well, was that your answer to all three?"

I merely stared at him. He wasn't going to know about T'Pring, or the fact that I did not necessarily have an answer on hand for the first question. He sighed.

"Never mind. My lips are sealed."

As we continued the samples from various tissue elements, I listened in to the room next door. The sighs in there sounded forlorn and miserable. I allowed myself for a brief moment to hope; that the Nurse valued her duties over her biting loneliness.

I did not want to have to hurt a creature as vulnerable and lovely as this._  
_

_**Then one day I touched a nerve by mistake  
Pressed too hard and she started to shake  
Every time that I go there I know there's so much she can take  
Before she breaks**_

_**She breaks like China**__  
_


End file.
